Grey Zone
by thisnameisnowtaken
Summary: Voldemort may be defeated, but evil is not. There was a reason why Voldemort became who he was, and that just proves that at any time, in any place, a new Dark Lord can - and will - rise. But perhaps this time we'll see another side to the story? Albus Severus/OC
1. Chapter 1

**OK, so don't expect this to become some seriously long story. It's just an idea I got, and it's just something that I work with for fun in between stories. Thank you for reading! **

"_Slytherin!_"

A cascade of clapping from the table to his far right erupted, but to Albus, it was gone behind a fog of disappointment. It was his only request; he didn't want to go to Slytherin. But of course, the Sorting Hat hadn't listened to him. He wasn't his father, Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. He was just Albus Severus. Nothing special.

His eyes searched the Gryffindor table and met the eyes of his brother. At least James managed to look sad. He was sitting beside Ted and Rose eating pumpkin pie and watching the Finnigan boy who had just been sorted to their house attempt to turn water to wine.

The professor who had led them inside, a man, who called himself Michael Corner, almost had to remind James of standing up, he was so lost in his disappointed thoughts. Tears tried pressed themselves out as he took his walk of shame from the stool in front of _everybody_ down to the long table, decorated in that horrible green color.

"Come sit here," some fifth year said. He was wearing the prefect badge, which Albus hoped made him safe. He did as he was told quietly, feeling a bit sick. "So, Harry Potter's son, eh? My name's Anthony Mellark. Welcome to Slytherin."

Albus shook the hand that was reached out to him. "Thank you."

Anthony looked at Albus for another moment, said something about remembering to get something to eat and then turned to some of his friends. Albus just looked down at his empty plate, afraid that if he ate, he'd vomit. Afraid that if he concentrated on anything but not crying, he'd start crying. He was in Slytherin. His heart sank tremendously as realization dawned upon him.

"Is it true what he said?" a female voice said from beside him. He turned around to see a young girl with dark shining brown hair and large, almost black eyes staring at him. "That you're Harry Potter's son, I mean?" Albus just nodded. She didn't seem much older than him. "My name is Caroline, Caroline Holcraft."

Albus thought he'd heard her name before, he just wasn't sure where or when. "Nice to meet you, Caroline. I'm Albus."

She smiled at him, a large, beaming smile that reached her eyes; a smile that didn't belong in Slytherin. That should've been his first warning.


	2. Chapter 2

Albus lounged himself in one of the dark leather couches of the Slytherin Common Room. It had been a week since he'd been given the title of 'member of Slytherin House' and had long since cried all the tears that there was to cry about that. His parents had sent him a letter telling him that they were proud of him, and Rose, James and Hugo still wanted to speak to him. Well, James didn't, but that was sort of normal.

He was reading a book called _Hogwarts – a History_. He'd heard that it was a damned old book, the same as the one that his father had been reading, but that a sequel including the events at the Battle of Hogwarts was being written. He just hoped that they would optimize the reading style a bit, since this book would have been much more interesting, had it not sounded as old as their history teacher – another thing that hadn't changed from his father's time.

He barely noticed when Caroline slid down to sit beside him. "Still reading that?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"It's homework," he said as if that explained all.

She shook her head at him, pityingly. "I know, but I also know that Mr. Binns will most likely have forgotten that he gave us any homework and explain it in class anyways."

Albus couldn't help but smile at her joke, which was only made funnier by the fact that it was true. "I know, but honestly, how do you keep yourself awake in his classes?"

She shrugged. "It's not that hard, if you ask me. Besides, he does talk about interesting stuff once in a while. You've all just fallen asleep by then."

"Like _what_?" Albus couldn't imagine anything interesting that would come out of Mr. Binns' mouth, especially not concerning history.

She rolled her eyes. "Like, I don't know, the Chamber of Secrets?"

Albus stared at her, mouth agape. "He teaches that to _first years?_"

"Well, no." She smirked. "In his world, we're still the fourth years who just left."

Albus knew that his father's generation hadn't been taught about that sort of stuff – dark stuff – but since the Chamber of Secrets played such a big role in the recent history of Hogwarts and in the death of Voldemort, it had only been suitable to include it in the curriculum. "He did that?"

Caroline laughed. "Of course, I wouldn't have told you if he didn't. I wouldn't even have known about it, would I?"

"You never know with girls."

Caroline smiled secretively. She somehow always managed to look as if she knew something that no one else did. "Do you know what I heard today?" Her voice was excited. Albus hadn't known her for long, but he knew that glimpse in her eyes already.

"What?"

She turned around completely, pulling her legs up. "I'll tell you, but you have to swear that it'll be our secret."

Albus mimicked her position, folding his legs underneath him. "I swear."

A strange gleam came to her eyes, a dark one, yet so full of hope. "On your life?" Her voice was breathy, as if she'd just asked him something so very important.

"On my life," Albus swore.

She sighed and smiled. "Today, after potions, me and Scorpius…"

"Scorpius?" Albus narrowed her eyes at her while spitting out the boy's name like it was rat poison.

She nodded. "Yes, I know. But he's reliable." Albus still looked at her with an expression that told her exactly how much he felt like vomiting. "Anyways, we were just walking from potions when we turn around a corner and see no other than professor Longbottom walking in through this door."

Albus knew that Caroline didn't much fancy Neville, but he was assured that it was just because she didn't like Herbology. "And…?"

"Well, I wouldn't have thought much of it, had the door not disappeared a moment later." Albus' eyes widened in shock. Disappeared? "I wanted to go investigate right away, but I knew that professor Longbottom was in there and, besides, I didn't want Scorpius to know."

"Scorpius didn't notice?" Caroline smiled and shook her head. "So… only I know?"

"Yes. And you'll also be the one to accompany me, right?" Caroline looked at him pleadingly, even though Albus knew she would never lower herself to real pleading. She was too clever for that. Instead, she made herself interesting. How could he say no to this offer?

"Sure. Of course." Her smile grew again and infected Albus. "When do you want to go?"

"Tonight."

"Tonight? But it's past our curfew."

"Yes, tonight." Her voice was almost scarily determined. When she saw his look of uncertainty, she said, "No one has to know. It'll be our secret."

"What if we're caught?"

"We won't be. Besides, that's what makes it fun, right?"

Albus smiled little and jokingly said, "Sometimes, I swear you're crazy."

She didn't laugh, though. Instead she looked down for a moment, her eyes glazing over with some emotion Albus didn't quite grasp, before her gaze once more darted up to him, all smiles and happy. "Let's go, then."

During their entire travel through Hogwarts' many corridors, Albus was in constant fear of the night watch suddenly appearing. He was a scary old man whom Albus luckily had never encountered in person. Caroline, on the other hand, didn't seem at all scared with the prospect of being caught.

"It's so beautiful here at night. So quiet and beautiful," she whispered at some point. Albus had to admit that the castle was very beautiful without all the students, but he was also freezing cold. Even if he was curious to see what the mysterious room was, he doubted that it was anything special. Neville was a nice man and Albus liked him, but he wasn't the man who kept great secrets.

"Where are we going?" he asked when Caroline went up the stairs.

"Seventh floor," she said simply.

Albus stopped in his tracks. "But Potions is in the cellar?"

Caroline turned to smile at him, took his hand and tugged at it. "Come on."

Albus didn't like mounting the stairs. There was no hiding place out there so if the night watch saw them, there would be no escape. Luckily, the staircase quickly latched itself onto the right hallway and they could enter.

Caroline quickly dragged him down the hallway, probably aching to know this big secret. For some reason, others saw Caroline as being patient and restrained, as if only Albus had seen this pretty obvious side to her.

She stopped at some point, staring at an empty wall. "It's here." She could barely contain her voice to a whisper from excitement. She then closed her eyes, focusing her thoughts. Albus could see her whisper spells and possible passwords under her breath. Sometimes he wondered why she was in Slytherin House. She was ambitious and cunning, yes, but she stood out from the rest by not brooding and scheming all the time.

Suddenly, her expression changed from focused to disappointed. "It's not working," she stated.

Albus looked around him. "Are you sure that we're in the right place."

"Positive." She looked around her before trying again. She let out a sound of frustration, for a moment clenching Albus' hand so hard that the blood left it. "Why won't it work? I just want to see where professor Longbottom went, for Merlin's sake!"

And with that, out of nowhere, a door appeared. They both gasped in astonishment. "How did I do that?" Caroline let go of Albus' hand as she went to look more closely at what she'd found. Carefully, she touched the door handle and opened the door.

What they found inside most looked like a room meant for practicing spells. There were various objects definitely meant to be the opponent in a training match. They were all covered in dust, though. Apart from those, there was a mirror and a table that carried bunches of papers.

The two children moved across the floor quickly to look closer at the treasure, finding that it was just a lot of articles in news papers about some people that had apparently played a role right before the Wizard War. Some of the oldest were about a woman named Umbridge becoming a teacher at Hogwarts School.

"Albus," Caroline whispered. "Isn't this your father?"

She handed him an article that read something about his father supporting professor Dumbledore's lies. "Yes," he said, finding himself missing his father all of a sudden. "It is."

But Caroline had already moved on. Within seconds, she found another object of interest. "Look at this." She held a piece of parchment in her hands as she read aloud. "Dumbledore's Army. And then there's just a long list of names. Alice Tolipan, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson. These are all old people and… your father's on here, too. And your mother, Ginny, right? There's a lot of Weasley's."

Albus stared at the parchment for a few seconds. "Can I see?"

"Sure." Caroline handed the parchment to him and he instantly let his eyes roam the list of names.

"Neville is on here, too. Do you reckon that's why he visited this place? That it's some sort of secret chamber for this army?" Albus looked at her expectantly.

"Could be. But Dumbledore's Army was founded ages ago, before the Wizard War." She shrugged. "He's probably just reliving his old memories."

"Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. They're my dad's closest friends." Albus couldn't exactly wrap his head around the fact that they had once attended Hogwarts. He had always known it, of course, but it seemed strange.

"Don't you think it's exciting? Think about it; what if we were to have a secret club like this one. It would be so much fun." She took the parchment from his hands again and looked over it.

"And dangerous," Albus remarked.

She looked up and smiled at him. "What's life without a bit of danger?"

He swore to Merlin, if someone as brave as Caroline hadn't made it to Gryffindor, then it wasn't so strange that he hadn't either.


	3. Chapter 3

Albus hadn't been able to find sleep that night. He kept wondering about Caroline and the four houses and the Sorting Hat. Something didn't quite add up.

Caroline was pure-blooded, Albus was sure of it, and she was also very ambitious, which could be seen on her grades. But she wasn't like the others; she always smiled and would always be up for a game of Wizard Chess. Last night, she had proved to be brave, much braver than Albus, and that was saying something. His parents had all too many stories of young Albus trying to do something completely outrageous.

Albus had studied the values of the different houses ever since he was old enough to understand them and spent hours on researching the greatest wizards from each of the houses so that he would know which of his features to suppress and which to nurture so that he would have the greatest possibility to end in the right house.

Finally, at around two in the morning, he had drifted off to sleep, but the subject was on his mind as soon as he awoke again.

It was soon obvious to all that Caroline Holcraft and Albus Severus Potter were a team. In fact, Albus, au contraire to Caroline, only had that one friend in the Slytherin house. The time that he didn't spend on school work or being with Caroline, he spent with Rose or James.

"Hey," Caroline said one day when he sat curled up with his books before the fireplace in the common room. "Did you know the library had a restricted section?" She sat down beside him.

"Uhm, yeah? Basic knowledge."

She frowned at him. "You're not in a very good mood." Her look of pity was replaced with one of mischief as she interrupted his apology before he even made a sound. "I just thought I'd make sure you knew before we break in there."

"Wait… what?" Albus narrowed his eyes at her. "We're not breaking into the _restricted section_."

She narrowed right back. "Yeah. We are." When he just returned to his book she punched him lightly. "Come on – think of all the knowledge in there!"

"Forbidden knowledge."

She shook her head. "The knowledge of the _future_. It's before its time, is all. Besides, everything in the not-so-restricted section is boring and filled with stuff we're going to read anyway."

Albus looked into his book, trying not to look too interested. Of course he wanted to see the restricted section – who didn't? – but he still secretly hoped to get another shot at Gryffindor. "First of all, the knowledge of the future hasn't been written down yet and second of all, don't you think breaking the record of breaking Hogwarts rules would be a bit much – especially considering that we've been here for barely two weeks?"

"Well." She smirked at him. "First of all, it won't count as breaking the rules if we aren't _seen_ and second of all, I'm guessing that that school record is set by Tom Riddle, in which case I think you're being optimistic to expect us to break it… though I wouldn't mind trying."

Albus swatted her playfully on the arm. "I'm sure you would. But not tonight, okay?"

She sighed. "Okay."

Apart from being sorted into the wrong house, Albus remembered his first year at Hogwarts as a light and happy year. He almost had no homesickness – honestly, with all the speculative things that Caroline made him do, he barely had time to think of home. Not that they broke _a lot _of rules. And not that many serious ones; for example, Albus got Caroline to not visit the restricted section of the library.

Of course, the new pair of best friends didn't spend all their time on breaking rules and exploring the castle. The last summer day, for example, was a day that Albus would forever save and cherish in his mind. It was the day that Caroline went from 'close friend that made Slytherin tolerable' to actually being his best friend.

The warm day had been placed in the middle of a lot of cold, rainy ones. The leaves were already becoming more golden and the grass had been wet all morning. In the afternoon, though, it had heated up and the fields around Hogwarts were dry, making masses of pupils rush out to enjoy the possibly last warm day for almost a year.

Albus sat in the shadow of a tree, for once looking at the lake instead of into a book. Caroline surprised too by taking over the position as a bookworm. She had apparently found something fairly interesting in the not-so-restricted section.

"What are you reading?"

She looked up at him and smiled, her brown eyes reflecting the light of the sun. "I'm glad you asked." She scrambled up so that she was kneeling, book on her thighs. "I just noticed that Tom Riddle Junior graduated from Hogwarts in 1945."

"So?" Sometimes her interest in the man was almost scary.

She tilted her head. "I thought you knew; he died in, like, 1998." Albus nodded his head. "So he was seventy at his final battle." Albus just looked at her, trying to get his point. "It just seems old to me, is all. I mean, he was so strong in the end. Doesn't seem like any seventy-year-old to me."

Albus shrugged. "It's normal to become seventy. Besides, my father told me that he did become weak towards the end."

Caroline shook her head, denying his reason. "It just doesn't add up."

"I know, but he's _Lord Voldemort_. It's not supposed to add up."

Caroline's eyes instantly went to his face, searching it. "You're not afraid of saying it?" Even now, so many years later, people still feared the sound of his name and what it may bring.

"Why would I? He's dead." Caroline just nodded, returning to her book.

Albus let her be, staring out at the lake again when suddenly, a face appeared. It was staring right at them – well, not at them, but at the castle. "Look." He pointed at it. "Isn't it beautiful?"

Her gaze followed his finger until her eyes settled on the strange creature. "Fascinating, yes. I don't know if it's beautiful, though." Suddenly, she looked at him and smiled her smile. "Do you reckon you'd be able to swim out there?" It was half a joke, half a dare.

Albus just looked at her, then at the lake, then back. "No."

She giggled, then seemed to brace herself for something before, suddenly, she muttered, "You pussy!" The words were said so quickly and were followed by so many giggles that it was hard to tell what she said, but Albus was sure he hadn't heard wrong. Both her hands went up to cover her mouth as her laughter continued.

When got over his initial shock, he began searching for the right word to fling back at her. "Well, then you're just a… a… you're a…" She began laughing again. "It would be stupid," he concluded. "Why would I?"

She just kept laughing. "You're very sweet," she said arrogantly between her cramps.

"What?" He tried hard to imitate her nonchalant tone, a tone that came very natural to her. As did most things. "Because I'm a full-blooded wizard whose time should not be wasted on learning Muggle profanities?" He thought of the many nights where he'd heard other Slytherins talking about Muggles.

"And now you're just very Slytherin."

Albus laughed with her, the sound of them filling the outside areas with as much light as the sun would ever do. For some reason, that afternoon had been one of the happiest moments of his life. Perhaps because of the sun or because of their innocence – but Albus knew now that one of the main factors had been _her_. Not even once during that day had she mentioned doing something that would require breaking the rules; instead she had smiled and laughed and done all the things an ordinary girl her age would do. Albus believed that memory was one of her happier ones, as well.

Only a few months later had been another, in his eyes, defining day in the relationship of the two. It was early in December and the snow had begun falling.

"George says that the new collection will be _legendary,_" Rose said, smirking at the growing group students who had settled around her. "Of course, I have tested some of the things that'll be in the collection and I must say, they seem all too effective to me."

Even though Rose's tone wasn't exactly happy, the faces of the people around her broke into wide grins. Everybody knew that if Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes had a good year, so did the students at Hogwarts. Therefore those who knew the owner himself, George Weasley, personally held a naturally high rank amongst the students.

"You're talking like you know something," Fred commented, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Fred, the son of Angelina and George, was a third year but because he was the son of George… well, his year was irrelevant. After all, he was the one who smuggled the goods into the castle. "Honestly, it's me who you should be asking."

Rose frowned at him. "Doubt it."

"Oi! I actually helped my father make some of this year's _collection_, as you call it." Fred narrowed his eyes at Rose.

"Yeah, but you wouldn't have, had it not been for me," she remarked and returned to the news paper she'd been reading before she had been disturbed by the inquisitive crowd.

"What are you reading about?" Fred asked, looking over her shoulder.

Rose looked at him, her nose slightly wrinkled. "Since when do you care?"

"Since now."

She narrowed her eyes at him, expecting him to leave. When he didn't, she stood up from the table. "Ugh, come, Albus. I'm leaving."

Albus stood up right away. Not that he _always_ did as Rose said – like James often told him he did – it was just that Rose got dangerous to be around when you didn't follow her lead.

"I'm sorry about that," she said once they were out in the hall.

Albus was a bit taken aback that she apologized, but he let it go pretty quickly. "Oh, that's okay. He can be a brat."

Rose laughed. "It's been a while since we talked. How are you doing, down there in the dungeons?"

He knew she was referring to Slytherin. "I'm doing pretty good. I mean, it's not as bad as I thought."

She smiled. "I'm glad."

"Are you coming over for Christmas this year?"

"Well, we always do, don't we." Rose stopped to sit on the steps of the staircase. Albus sat beside her.

"That's good. I miss Hugo and I feel we haven't talked much lately." He bumped his shoulder against hers. "Oh, about that. Did you do the Herbology assignment yet? I've tried, I really have, but…"

She interrupted him with a gasp. "Oh, no! I haven't. I'm so sorry, Albus, I've got to go finish it." She ran up the stairs. Albus didn't even mention to her that there was still a couple of days left before it was due and there were no other assignments – it would've been to no use.

Instead he decided to go down to the dungeons. Caroline said that she was going to spend her day packing so that she would be ready to go once the Christmas break started. That wasn't how he found her when he came down there, though.

Because of that first years had gotten their last class of the day canceled while the older years were still in class and the rest of the first years were wandering around the castle, Caroline was alone in the common room, which was why she had chosen this moment to open her letter from her father.

That was also the letter that she held between her clenched fists when Albus entered the common room. That day was the first time he ever saw Caroline cry.

She was sitting with her back to the door in one of the couches, her legs pulled up and her arms around them. The moment that Albus stepped in, Caroline turned her head. He could see the alarm in her eyes when she realized what he'd seen, but for some reason, she didn't run away.

"Caroline? What's wrong?" She just turned back around, shaking her head, unable to look him in the eyes. "I thought you were packing?"

He heard her take in a deep breath. "Well, obviously I'm not. So just… leave me alone, okay?" Her voice was hoarse from crying and harsh from fear, a mixture that shocked Albus.

"No." He walked to the couch and sat down. "I won't."

She looked at her again; this time he was closer to her face and able to see how red her eyes were, how many wet lines her tears had drawn across her cheeks. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She looked down at the letter in her hand. "It's just my dad."

"What is it?" Albus reached out a shaking hand, awkwardly putting it to rest on her upper arm, unsure whether to caress her arm or not.

Her body began trembling but she fought down the tears. "He's invited Rebecca over for Christmas."

"Is she your dad's…?"

"Daughter," she finished the sentence for him. "Stupid muggle, good-for-nothing daughter."

"She's your half-sister?"

"She's _not_ my sister!" she screamed, turning around fully to face Albus, who flinched away from her for just a second in shock. That had been a mistake. "I'm sorry." She looked down again. "I didn't mean to… scare you." She began to fidget with her things on the table, collecting them and putting them in her bag.

"You didn't," Albus objected, but she already had her back to him.

"I'm sorry," she said again, beginning to leave the room. Albus couldn't find the bravery in himself to stop her. Perhaps that was why he was in Slytherin.


	4. Chapter 4

Albus didn't see Caroline much between meeting her in the common room and leaving for Christmas, but when he did, she seemed sad. She also seemed to avoid him. He honestly had no idea what to do; she was the first real friend, who wasn't family, that he'd ever had.

"It's probably got something to do with her father." Rose and Albus were sitting across from each other, eating breakfast. That night was the night of the big Christmas feast and the following morning they would leave for the break. "I mean, when a parent has a child with someone else it can be hard."

Albus just fidgeted a bit with his breakfast, not really getting any down. It had been like that since that night in the common room. He couldn't quite get himself to eat anything in the morning, so he'd be starving through morning classes, and then he'd eat way too much at lunch, making him tired for the afternoon ones. "Oh, come on, how do you know that? Your parents would never even consider leaving each other."

Rose shrugged. "Once we had a neighbor who was the second husband of this woman. They both had children from each their marriage, so it was often weird to play with them. My mom, in the end, had to explain."

_Of course, _he thought, _if there was anything her books couldn't teach her, she'd learned in some other way_. She really did know everything.

The days went by slowly without Caroline to play with, talk to and break the rules with. At one point between Defense Against the Dark Arts and Spells classes, he'd been sitting with a small smoke bomb from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. It had been an exclusive that would only be for sale in the spring, but because he was the son of his parents, he'd gotten it as a special gift. But without Caroline, all he could really do was to sit with it, throw it up and down in his hand.

He really didn't have any friends except for her, at least not if you only counted Slytherins. She did, he quickly noticed, but still she didn't spend much time with them.

By the time the feast was served, Albus was aching to go home. To think that only some weeks before, he'd thought that leaving Hogwarts would be terrible. Now he was miserable at Hogwarts.

He even considered sneaking to the Gryffindor table to sit with his friends but was afraid that Lucy would notice. Lucy was a prefect, the daughter of Percy and Audrey Weasley and had unfortunately inherited most of her father's characteristics. While Albus didn't mind Audrey, Percy had always scared him a bit.

Caroline wasn't even there. She'd left early, some said, but he didn't know if he believed them. Nevertheless, he didn't see her after the Christmas feast either, nor did he find her in the dorms or on his way with the Hogwarts Express.

At home, all of the family had already collected themselves inside 12 Grimmauld Place. It seemed hard to believe that the house had once been as dark and eerie as the stories about it told, especially during Christmas when the decorations were up and ever fireplace was lit.

There was the yearly competition between George and his son in who was the best prankster, a fight that Fred got close and closer to winning. Angelina would shake her head while Ginny would smile and Ron would complete the tradition by saying, "It's almost as if Fred didn't die at all – insufferable."

Everyone would laugh and eat and laugh some more, and Albus gradually found himself forgetting all about Hogwarts and a little about Caroline.

By the time the vacation ended, Albus still hadn't received a letter from her. While he had hoped and wished for one, a part of him always knew that he wasn't going to get it. He should've sent her one, he realized as he was driving to King's Cross with his parents and brother. It was too late then.

The goodbyes were quickly over and done with and before long, Rose and Albus were once more on the train to Hogwarts. Some of Rose's friends came by to say hi, but they usually left again quickly.

"What's the matter?"

Albus looked up to see Rose's worrying eyes on him. "What do you mean, 'what's the matter'?"

"You're brooding." Rose's accentuation became a little more posh as she said those words. "Again."

"I'm not!"

Rose smiled and tilted her head. "You're worried about Caroline, aren't you?"

He shrugged, shifting to a more comfortable position on his seat. "Why would I worry about her? She's the one who's been ignoring _me_."

"Still, you haven't seen her since days before we left for vacation and you haven't seen her on the train _or _at King's Cross. I think you're afraid she's left the school."

Albus' eyes narrowed at her. "Are you always this intolerable?" She didn't say anything. "And I'm not worried that she's left Hogwarts, she loves Hogwarts. She wouldn't go to any other magic school in the world, much less a Muggle one."

Rose sighed. "She does love Hogwarts very much?"

"When have _you_ talked to her?"

"Only once, in class." _Of course, in _class_, _Albus thought and rolled his eyes. "She didn't say much, but she still said a lot."

"What in the name of Merlin are you talking about?"

She shrugged. "You know, she said a lot of things that she didn't intend on spilling." Rose's eyebrows rose. "It's only because you're too daft to notice until it's smashed into your head."

Albus sighed. "Speak English, please?"

Rose leaned forward to look at Albus. "She's sad, okay? That's it. Hogwarts is the best thing that has ever happened to her."

Albus looked at her suspiciously. "You said you only talked once."

"We did."

"Then how come you already know more about her than I do?"

Rose leaned back, an annoying smirk on her lips. "I don't know more than you do. But as I said, you're too daft to realize how much you really know."

Albus still didn't understand Rose's way too cryptic message. He tilted his head and looked outside to look at the fields that passed them by instead, trying not to think too much.

A week went by before Caroline returned to Hogwarts. It happened all of a sudden, unannounced. One day she just entered a second period class, silently packed out her books, sat down and listened, as if she'd never been gone. Albus' eyes were on her during the entire period, planning to confront her afterwards.

But, as always, Caroline had her own plans.

She hurried out of class before anyone could stop her and Albus' courage faltered. He was one of the last ones to exit. He'd just seek her out before her next class – he knew her schedule, of course.

Once he entered the hall, though, he was surprised to find Caroline waiting for him. She smiled nervously. "Hey Albus." Her voice was exactly as he remembered. "How was Christmas?"

She didn't apologize for ignoring him, nor did she explain, but she didn't need to. Albus had already forgiven her. After a while, everything returned to normal, and Albus realized that he had no right whatsoever to be angry at her for leaving him; he should be grateful that she was even there in the first place.

Come summer break, they were still inseparable. They had already planned the next year, all the things they'd do – they even made a list. Caroline had, after much persuasion, gotten Albus to add visiting the restricted section to the list.

"Can I visit you sometime during the summer?" he asked her as they walked down a hallway. It was their last day on Hogwarts, one to be cherished. Since the first and second years didn't have any tests, they had an entire day off.

Caroline stopped walking. It took Albus a couple of steps to realize that she was no long walking. He awkwardly slowed down and turned around.

She was biting her bottom lip thoughtfully. "I don't think that's such a great idea. I'm going on a vacation with my mom and dad, just the three of us. No Rebecca." She smiled at the prospect.

"Oh, well." Albus shifted around awkwardly. "I'm happy for you."

She giggled a little, though Albus didn't exactly understand why. "I'll miss you too." Then she hugged him, for the first time ever. Her arms went around his neck, her chin rested against his shoulder while Albus slowly put his hands around her. "I'll send you so many owls that you can start your own menagerie."

Albus chuckled. "I will look forward to that."

At the dinner, Caroline received an owl from her parents. Albus made a little fun of her receiving an owl the night before she'd see them again, but she just ignored him.

"It's good news." She smiled at the letter, her eyes rereading it. "Dad's not changed the plans. It'll just be me and my mom and him, just like the old days."

Albust smiled; it was impossible not to be happy. No matter what mood she was in, she always managed to have such a presence that everybody else within a short distance from her were touched by the same emotion. "Where are you going?"

"To Kenya." Her smile only grew. "We'll go on safaris and look at the wildlife. My dad says it's so cheap once you get there, because of their finances and the civil wars and all that's going on, so we'll live on a beautiful hotel."

"That's all good, but don't you feel bad for taking advantage of their bad times?"

Caroline shrugged; it seemed that she'd thought of it before since she answered quickly. "I suppose it's not very good of me, but it doesn't make it any worse for them, does it? At least some of us will get something out of it, eh? Besides, we'll be paying the fee of a lot of Africans who work at the hotel, so it's not all bad."

While it seemed cynical and selfish, Albus was able to see the logic behind her thoughts. Caroline seemed to realize that Albus was worried, so she immediately began a mission to distract him. "Hey, look, it's the caretaker."

No one knew the caretaker's name. He was a brooding man who didn't break the tradition of being thin haired and sullen, looking as if he hadn't been outside for a century. He was usually a silent man, but he would surprise you – both with cruelty in punishments, but also with being a rather humorous man, if only you managed to get on his good side. Caroline had somehow managed to do that, in spite of her being the one who pulled the most pranks on him. Of course, she was good at blaming them on others, and if she was caught, she'd play it out to be a friendly gesture.

"Do you have any of those smoking bombs from your uncle's trial?" she whispered, leaning across the table.

"It's the final feast on Hogwarts this year, and you want to throw a smoking bomb after the caretaker?" Albus stared at her in disbelief.

She smirked. "Come on, it's going to be our last chance to make fun of him the next months." Albus hesitated. "Come on, we have to do it now or it'll be too late." Caroline looked over her shoulder, keeping an eye on the caretaker as he walked past the pupils sitting on the long row of benches.

Albus took another moment of thought, then gave up. "Alright." He passed the smoking bomb that he happened to have in his pockets to Caroline without anyone seeing it and, without hesitation, she pulled the plug and threw it behind her, right in front of the caretaker where it began sputtering, sending out a grey cloud of mist.

Everyone broke out in laughter, even Albus. Caroline was right; this was his last time to have fun at Hogwarts and, more importantly, have fun with Caroline. Her smile and laugh were contagious, sending him into several fits of laughter before finally calming down.

Slytherin didn't win the House Cup that year; it wasn't a surprise. Even without Albus and Caroline getting caught for a single rule breaking all year, the Slytherin House was no stranger to getting points withdrawn. Still, they were in second place and that was enough for Albus and Caroline.

"We won the House Cup in having fun," she claimed as they walked down the halls. Her voice was louder than usual due to the fact that two first-year Gryffindors were walking close by.

Once back in the common room, they settled on a couch in front of a fireplace, just talking about all the things that they'd do next year. They found their list and went through it, laughing at some, making important notes to remember this and this when doing that and that and adding some extra to-do's while deleting some of the old ones.

It was much later than planned when they went to bed, ushered upstairs by some of the older ones who wanted to have a 'real' party. For some reason, they couldn't be there when that happened.

It wasn't hard to return to the discussion from the night before when boarding the train. It wasn't until half an hour before their arrival that their conversation died out, Caroline's gaze wandering to the window more and more often.

"What's wrong?"

Caroling smiled, tearing her gaze from the outside. "Nothing. I'm just looking forward to seeing my parents again, is all." They fell silent again for a few moments. "I'll miss you a lot."

Albus smiled back at her. "I'll miss you too."

That was the only real goodbye that they had. Everything became so strange once the train stopped. The hallways were chaos and Caroline kept saying that they'd say goodbye outside, but once Albus stepped onto the platform, she was already gone. He supposed her parents had been stressed and not willing to wait, or perhaps she'd thought he'd already left. No matter what, she was nowhere to be seen.


End file.
